Jason was a key figure within the New English Art Club. In 1993, he founded the NEAC Drawing School, which he always championed, fuelled by an obsession and a great passion for drawing. He was always at the centre of the club, a vocal and passionate contributor at committee meetings throughout the years. He became President from 2008 - 2013. 

Jason Bowyer was born in Chiswick in 1957. He studied Foundation and BA Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art. He then completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Painting at the Royal Academy Schools. Despite his childhood desire to be centre forward for Fulham, he became a full-time painter and an inspiring teacher but remained a loyal football fan. He was also the All England Lawn Tennis Club Wimbledon Championship artist in 2011. He went to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan as a war artist with his brother Francis for REMI - the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 2013.

Jason's painting was entwined with his family, often collaborating with his wife, a ceramic sculptor and his son a graphic designer. He spent most summers painting in Suffolk and it became an integral part of their creative life. Light was a crucial element in his paintings and he preferred a cluster of dramatic clouds to a clear blue sky any day. He seemed to have absorbed the atmosphere along that coastline and the more familiar he became with it, the more he wanted to bring out a more sculptural quality - linking them to the interiors of the workshops and the structured still lives he painted back in his studio at the Steam Museum.

In a painting of the wild flowers by their beach hut, Jason incorporated one of the many butterflies that would hover around and he later identified it as a gatekeeper and a love for butterflies began.  The poet John Masefield described them as  " The souls of summer hours” They exist in the most wonderful places, in the best of all weathers in the greatest of seasons.

Jason painted his last works on Walberswick beach in glorious sunshine just a few days before his untimely death on February 17th. In the Guardian, Zoe Williams remarked on the sunshine this February  "I love that feeling when the air temperature is coolish and the sun finds a spot on your back, like a memento, a promise, a siren song. You remember summer; it’s coming back for you" That is what his paintings do and it resonates with all who admire his work.

“You remember summer; it’s coming back for you." 

Flowers on the Anvil

A Special Studio Exhibition celebrating Twenty Years of Painting and Drawing
Private View, Thursday October 12th 6pm - 8.30pm

Jason is celebrating twenty years of working from his studio at the London Museum of Water and Steam. He has been involved in many collaborations with the Museum through teaching and drawing, exhibiting his work and making Portraits.

"Observation is of prime importance to my work. My paintings develop out of my drawings. There is a constant considered figurative / abstract interplay, a desire to find the essence of my motif whether the subject is an industrial interior or single flower.

Thumbnail sketches that develop into small paintings, mixed media, ink and pastel studies. This starts the creative charge. A finished large painting can take up to five years to make but then be re-painted and finished in an hour. My paintings are made on location, an emotional, visceral response, ideas of light and tension that are then fused together in the studio to make a whole."

This special exhibition is open to the public on Friday 13th - Sunday 15th October 11am -5pm.  There will be an opportunity to view the larger works on display in the Mezzanine Gallery above the Main Hall of the Steam Museum. These works can be viewed free of charge during Museum opening hours 11am - 4 pm by presenting a catalogue from Jason's Studio exhibition.

Prince of Wales Portrait Drawing Prize 2015

May 2015

Jason has been awarded the Prince of Wales Portrait Drawing Prize 2015 at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

Jason was presented with the prize by the president of the Society, Robin Lee Hall and he dedicated the award to his late father, William Bowyer RA who always said "Drawing is the Thing".

Sammy G
pencil and charcoal

Receiving the Prince of Wales Drawing Prize
May 2015

The Small Self

New Temporary Exhibition at Hogarth’s House curated by Jason Bowyer and Chrissy Blake. This Exhibition commemorates the 250th Anniversary of Hogarth’s death. Fifty contemporary self-portraits, by major British Artists celebrating Hogarth’s life.

Open to the public from
September 20th 2014 – January 11th 2015

Hogarth’s House
Hogarth Lane
Great West Road
Chiswick
W4 2QN

0208 994 6757

Open 12 noon – 5.00pm
Tuesday – Sunday

Admission: Free

Hogarth House Website

Ashmolean Museum Oxford

“Hard Held”
Exhibition and Lecture
Headley Lecture Theatre

Jason spent ten days with the British Army in Camp Bastion in September 2013 as an official war artist. In this lecture he talks about making drawing from observation in a hostile environment and its connection with his current work.

Tuesday 30th September 2014
2.00pm

Tickets: £8.00 concessions £7.00
Booking is essential as places are limited

www.ashmolean.org

Arts Award

October 2013

I worked with the Kew Bridge Steam Museum and their new educational unit on an Arts Award project week, which is managed by Trinity College in association with Arts Council England. “Mapping the Museum” explored film, drawing, printing, ceramics and jewellry design and making techniques. Students aged 11 – 14 all from local schools, worked alongside Museum staff and resident Museum artists to develop their skills and abilities. The final day of the course featured a presentation by the students of their work and was attended by the parents, Museum staff, the artists and teachers from the schools involved. It was a privilege to be involved with a project of such high quality and value in the visual arts.

Images from the Arts Award Project Week
October 2013

Afghanistan

September 2013
Jason was invited by the REME – Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to observe and draw the workshops and surroundings at Camp Bastion as an official war artist.

Jason at Camp Bastion Sept 2013

Beijing Conference

September 2012

Jason and Claire were invited to attend an
International Academic Conference in Beijing.

'Bahuangtongshen – New Humanism – Lu Yushun'
It was part of a large exhibition of Lu Yushun,
a celebrated Contemporary Landscape Painter
at the National Art Museum of China.

Jason was asked to speak at the conference and
give a British Painter’s view.

They were also guests of Lu Yushun’s students at
their post-graduate show at the Chinese
National Academy of Painting.

Images from the Beijing Conference
September 2012